The Official Blog of PanKap (Technology,Education,Ideas,India)

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2006-12-27T00:11:00.000+05:30

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Our CAT Wiki

2006-10-15T10:07:00.000+05:30

Namaste...Based on junta feedback of my previous post,Why CAT is tough ?,I have created template of a wiki(what is a wiki?) which you can use for group study,question creation or any kind of group academic activity.

But yaar,what the hell is a wiki and how it can help me prepare well ?

Go to this example wiki page which I have created

Our CAT Wiki

Sounds good
There are many wiki services available on the net which you can use according to your requirement...Refer to wikimatrix which is a big catalogue of wiki sites available on Internet.

Catalogue of wiki sites

Now Create a group

Create a group of some serious guys and start scrapping on wikis.Do it for any single topic or whatever you want on any wiki service available.If its helping you to reduce your time in understanding fundas,or solving questions ...great.Otherwise leave it..dont waste much time!

But yaar,How wiki is different from a forum ?
What I like about the wikis is that content can be altered and remains more "compact", whereas forums tend to arborise.Simple example,Can you give me all the math questions discussed in some MBA forum ? You have to go through many threads to find out interesting stuff.Wiki, on the other hand,is very organized from the start.Wikipedia ko dekh lo yaar !!!

Kapil

Why CAT is tough ?

2006-10-04T23:40:00.000+05:30

I asked myself few questions ....

Who is my competitor in CAT ? Lakhs of students.NO !!!

Everybody tells me that you have millions of competitors and you need to be very fast,accurate and smart to crack CAT.But I think my real enemy is that booklet of CAT paper which I have to solve on that day.

Then,why CAT is tough ?
One of the reason ...CAT is tough and unpredictable because its difficult to map the thought process that goes behind in creating CAT.

What goes behind in creating those tests ?
CAT is not outsourced to supercomputers of Japan.Take any old CAT paper and compare it with last year CAT and you will know what I am trying to say.CAT has evolved into a great exam by following a dedicated,disciplined and smart thinking over the years.Practice made the CAT almost perfect.

Practice of what ? Creating questions !!!
How much effort I put in understanding how these "difficult" questions are created ?
For this jhanjhat,I have outsourced my work to coaching companies who create practice tests for me.My job is to study fundamentals,practice questions,take mocks,compare my rank with others and hope for the best.

What if I start creating questions ?
Whenever I look at any question,my mind automatically starts working trying to find the solution of the problem.I have barely realized I am conditioned to jump into "solution finding" mentality.
[Image courtsey:my 4 year friend for helping me draw this professional images. thanks Jenni :-)]

Once I develop these question creation skills may be I'll look at the question from two different viewpoints that will help me to understand the problem better and find solution efficiently.

Instant 2 Minute fun recipe

Before starting,you have to check whether it works for you !! Take any theme(say champions trophy etc) and a concept(number system,geometry etc) and create 2 genuine questions..tough,easy or medium whatever.Its your domain NOW !!
Take these questions to your teachers and friends and see how they react and solve questions.

and then ask yourself
1.Does it help you understand the concept better ?
2.Can you distinguish between creating questions and solving them ?
3.Do you think question creation skills should be part of CAT preparation ?
4.Do you think question creation skills helped you understand other questions faster ?

360 degree experience of CAT Exam

If you think this approach can help you prepare well(with lots of fun),let's start a platform where we can post questions and people solve our questions.
Not only we can create a big repository of questions but we can find multiple ways of finding solutions.

Lets create our own Mocks !!!

What you say .....

Kapil Bhatia
Kapil1312@yahoo.co.in

How to select a coaching centre for CAT ?

2006-09-17T15:20:00.000+05:30

The first step to decide a coaching centre for CAT is to find a well-trained,
experienced and compassionate friend who is willing to take the time to understand
you and fully discuss the alternatives available to you.

So we ask our friends and teachers.And geeky guys like me may go through various recommendations by students on their blogs.Lets see what people say :-

Rastogi writes

There are basically three big coaching institutes in the country – Career Launcher (CL), TIME and IMS. I fully recommend CL, especially the Hyderabad centre.Of course, I’m biased towards them because it’s my institute but I also think that only CL provides a great level of personal attention to each candidate which makes a huge difference in the long run.

Railmani writes

Yes, its true ... TIME rocks and IMS sucks. This conclusion is based purely on my experiences alone and anyone is free to contend or concur with me. Here are some of the key differences between the two

and he continues his analysis which obviously is a great guide.Good work.You can read Railmani reasons here

CAT4MBA writes

Better if you chose one of TIME, CL, IMS, PT or CF. Finally , have faith on GOD , give your best try you‘ll definitely make it into a TOP B school.

(More confusion)

And Ashutosh Writes
I prepared off IMS materials and I didn't feel the need for buying any other book to help me in my preparation. What was given in the IMS materials were more than enough. CAT is not exactly predictable and what you really need to crack CAT is an experience in solving a variety of questions.

My first observation was that we all have different parameters to decide these institutes based on our strengths and environment.And then,I decided to study some of the parameters which people consider while deciding a coaching centre and created a web tool which may help people to take good and logical decisions.My purpose of creating this tool is to help you consider all the important factors before taking the final decision.

Take me to Coaching centre selector

2006:End of traditional e-learning

2006-08-09T12:15:00.000+05:30

Quite a bold statement.I am assuming that e-learning stands for electronic (not enhanced) learning through Internet, school network,CD-ROM, interactive conferences, or satellite broadcast.I strongly feel this model is not going to work in future.

People are already talking about e-learning 2.0.What exactly is e-learning 2.0 ?I really like the "c-learning" notation. First of all,I want to convey that e-learning 2.0 or whatever you want to call it...The base technologies will remain same.Internet will be there(or better bandwidth and reach...From India's perspective),CD-ROM will be there (may be DVDs or blu-Ray) or VSATs..or VOIPs.

But there is a big paradigm shift happening in education.Its "C" effect...

C means connectivity

C means community

C means collaboration

Curriculum frameworks for class 6 will not be developed by teachers or education societies but the kids themselves .If it sounds ridiculous,dont worry....let me explain

Ideas or issues or syllabus can bubble up from the bottom, instead of flowing down from the top.The power of masses.The long tail.And the medium will be the same - all base technologies which we were using in first generation e-learning.With all these ingredients,learners will shape their own learning process.

A bunch of kids were taken to some historical monument say Taj Mahal.Now few kids might be interested in who created this monument,others may question how or why this man wasted his time instead of doing something more useful.Some kids may question the cost of the monument....etc etc.So interests are different and if history teacher asks me to write on historical significance of the monument which I may not be interested at all.But as my curriculum framework says that its very important to have a holistic view of things around me ...I will study it.

Damn,I will come home search for the cost of taj mahal..credit cards or cash.. ..and put it in my biary(blog diary) ....and my other classmates who are interested in money ..writes something ...and our automatically generated combined report may be a big surprise for my history teacher.She will ask the headmaster to include "history of money" or "money awareness" in their local curriculum.The headmaster,then principal,then your k-12 board and the power.....

It seems like a distant dream........or utter stupidity......but Teacher's basic role will be of a chief collaborator who is making connections for students to other groups of students or experts/resources across geographies.Schools have to open up.Make your entire projects,assignments and tests global if you really want to sustain and more significantly lead in 21st century.

Make learning fun...........................
Make learning open.......................
Make global connections with other schools.....
Assess your curriculum frameworks.........
Start experimenting with blogs,wikis,podcasts.....whether you are in Ajmer or Paris
Create content with students .....dont just make them consumers

There are so many things to do.

Indian schools,wake up....these things dont cost bomb ..like your school ERP....

Just open your eyes.Education is changing at speed of light and traditional elearning is dead.

Kapil Bhatia
kapil1312@yahoo.co.in

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect views of any other organization or commission.

Marketing guy ????

2006-07-20T16:46:00.000+05:30

Mumbai blasts - Mumbai help

2006-07-11T21:45:00.000+05:30

Shocking ....

Lets do whatever we can.....

This is a comment section of the Mumbai Help blog where people from across the globe have requested for information of their loved ones.Mobiles are still not working properly.If you are in Mumbai or elsewhere,please help.

Mumbai help has created a technorati tag(directory) for blood banks,oxygen suppliers,chemists and ambulance services in mumbai

It also has links for all the important
helpline numbers

Please look for hourly updates of help and information through rss feed of google blogsearch regarding these blasts RSS

If you have anyinformation regarding traffic on roads or any other little information ..please share ....mail to bombaybloggers@googlegroups.com

kapil

Don't Negotiate-Give Value first

2006-06-19T11:10:00.000+05:30

My friends usually come to me and complain that they are not paid enough...or are getting peanuts etc.

(I dont ask them) But I always want to ask what is your contribution to company's growth ?What kind of value you are creating for your company ?

As successminders
rightly points out that there is a direct correlation between value someone provides and the compensation.He explains through a graph (which I am copying here)

According to this graph,

1.When you’re first starting to offer value, you have a lower income (or return on your value).

2.As you provide more and more value, the amount of income relative to your value will increase logarithmically.

In the initial phase,you have to put much more effort on one axis(value) to expect return from other axis as the graph is logarithmic.

Rest,you have to trust the organization...call it sixth sense,balance sheet or gut feeling....:-)

Enjoy Monday
Kapil

Money pouring in etutoring .....and Job Airways

2006-06-16T10:41:00.000+05:30

TutorVista (www.TutorVista.com), a leading online tutoring and test preparation company, today announced it has secured $2 million in series A round funding. The round was led by Sequoia Capital India and includes prior angel investors.More info here

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Low cost airlines are facing the manpower shortage.Kingfisher and Air Deccan are going to start their own inhouse training centres to bridge this gap.Success of third party air hostess academies like Frankfinn and AHA is the case in hand.We see host of new academies opening up in India which will provide specialised training for aviation sector in India.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kapil Bhatia

what makes a product sexy ?

2006-06-13T19:00:00.000+05:30

I was watching Neel and Nikki yesterday.(N&N is a hindi movie-Bollywood)
Lead actress Tanisha is showing her curves wearing almost nothing in the movie.

Accepted that vital stats are there...but is she looking attractive ? Is she looking sexy ?

Okie lets take the case of Kajol,Tanisha's real sister who is also an actress(right pic).And she looks (and is looking) more attractive than her sister.

Why ?
Many scholars believe attraction is based on people who are more similar to us.When you are watching Kajol's movie,she looks like girl next door...Bubbly and intelligent,smiling and in control of situations...so we relate well with Kajol rather than "what are you wearing","how are you talking" Tanisha.

One more factor is the underlying confidence reflected mostly through eyes.Just look at two pictures and you will know what I am trying to say.

For some people, the function and accessibility of product or a person itself makes it inherently sexy.But to most, a product's sexiness starts and ends with design(or should I say smooth edges).

One of my friend always uses the word "BALANCE" and I completly agree with him.

If we look at Ipod ...

Its proved now that its design yielded the highest quality of sound, according to industry sources.It is by far has the best user interface of any product of this type.

Now suddenly,why I am discussing a MP3 device instead of some gorgeous women.IPOD is sexy for the same reasons Kajol looks sexy(I am sorry Ajay bhai).Its that functionality,ease of use and that "clean look" that makes it HOT.

A user of IPod says “I noticed the shiny white porcelain of the bathtub and the reflective chrome of the faucet on the wash basin… and then it hit me! Everybody perceives the iPod as ‘clean’ because it references bathroom materials!”

So what makes a product sexy ?

a.A Flamboyant product need not necessarily be sexy.
b.It should be reachable that creates that comfort level from mushy-mushy to like-it very-much(dont look at me Merc fans)
c.It should be different..a non-conformist...USP(no vague terms)

Kapil Bhatia

Idea Factory

2006-06-12T12:34:00.000+05:30

I was discussing some "idea" with my friend in a public forum.But he didnt like my way of sharing the idea with possible competitor.

When I was in school,I learnt knowledge increases when you share it with others.
And,in a way,I shared every damn--stupid--hillarious--impossible idea with everyone.With my mom,dad,stranger in the bus,teachers,business guys,VCs and neighbours.Till date,due to reasons unknown nobody has copied my ideas.

My mom once called me "idea guy"(that was the best compliment I ever got :-) ).

Anyways,technology is changing every business ...and so rapidly,that I dont think we have time for keeping our ideas "Secret" and this is the underlying secret of innovation in today's world.

Its the implementation,its the efficiency of ground work that matters.Its how that idea can help the end user.

..................................................................................
I was stuck .....in my thesis work (on collaborative tagging for software reuse).
But,I'll try my best to be regular at PanKap in future.
....................................................................................

Even an MBA can do this

2006-05-25T03:44:00.000+05:30

Free calls to all landlines and mobile in US

2006-05-17T11:31:00.000+05:30

At last, Skype has announced free calls within the US/Canada to all landlines and mobiles,until atleast the end of 2006.

You can download Skype Out here

If you’re in the US or Canada and calling any other country, OR if you’re in any other country and calling landline or mobile numbers in the US or Canada, the standard SkypeOut rates apply.

Read the official announcement here

................................................................................................................
PanKap is looking for web developers on contract basis who enjoy programming in php/mysql/AJAX/XML/RSS.
Contact kapil1312@yahoo.co.in for further details.
................................................................................................................

VCs and E-tutoring

2006-05-10T22:55:00.000+05:30

My never ending obsession with tutoring(esp e-tutoring)

Read my first post on e-tutoring(last year) here

Its a billion dollar opportunity and regular Pankap readers know it too well....

India is going to have stiff competition from china and eastern europe in future..but
India is well placed for GROWTH(for the time being).

But Sramana Mitra raised few very interesting points :

1.VCs are interested in this area(I would love to write about VCs when they become VERY interested )

2.Tutoring TAM(for geeks:its not Telecommunications Automation Model ..its Total available market) is very large ($5B), online tutoring TAM is likely to constitute of students who are quite motivated, and omit the ones who are not.

3.Growing Stars, one of the earlier entrants to this market, is doing a miserable job of strategic marketing, and hence will have difficulty gaining any traction whatsoever in terms of growth financing.

4.Personalization is the key. It should be 1:1 service unlike eSylvan.

But here are some questions(copied directly from Sraman sir blog) which VCs can ask

* How many students are they tutoring?
* How many hours on average do the students use the service?
* Who are these students? Public School Students? Private School Students?
* Any ethnic bias towards kids of Indian / Asian parents?
* Any geographical bias? Which School districts are adopting the service?
* Experience with HomeSchoolers? Is that a segment they serve? What % of the business is Home Schoolers?
* What subjects do they receive the maximum tutoring requests for? Algebra I? Calculus? Biology? Physics? …etc.?
* Do they ever have missed appointments, whereby the students skip their scheduled session?
* What kinds of skill-gap assessments do they do? How do they zero in on what to focus on?
* What content / syllabus do they follow in tutoring the students?
* How do they reconcile state-to-state and school-to-school variations in course material?
* What is the user experience like? Hardware? Software?
* What is the pricing model?
* How much have they benefitted from NCLB certification?
* How do they market the service?
* Do they have experience with advertising using the MySpace / Facebook communities?
* Do teachers recommend / use the service to help their students?
* What are the primary drivers of the business? test-preparation? home-work help? other?
* Any issues dealing with the teacher’s unions (NEA, etc.) due to off-shoring?

Growing stars,Tutorvista,Educomp and Career Launcher are some of the players in this largely unexplored market segment

Kapil Bhatia

MBA without degree

2006-05-09T17:33:00.000+05:30

A new concept(or an old wisdom) --gaining popularity rapidly.

Scenario 1:
I am very happy with my job and now I dont want to spend thousand of dollars(or rupees) in getting an MBA degree,what should I do ?

Scenario 2:I couldnt crack IIMs or A grade colleges and I think its wastage of time and money to go into B grade institutes.

Josh Kaufman is saying "Master Business Without Spending a Fortune".

The basic philosophy of this programme is:

1. Keep gaining work experience
2. Read a series of books at your leisure(a list of 42 books and periodicals)
3. Discuss issues/problems with an active online community.

I registered on this site but the biggest problem i am facing now is

How to arrange those books ? Most of them are pretty costly.(finding pirated version or searching public libraries are few options for me).But I have to invest somewhere :-)

Sounds Interesting ???
Read Josh Kaufman wonderful article on traditional MBA and list of 42 books here

Dont miss business week views on PMBA Can a personal MBA match the real McCoy ?

Want a free brochure ?
Download here

Want to join :

Personal MBA

Looks like marketing brochure rather than a blog post :-)
Kapil Bhatia

Pankap Times

2006-05-04T22:45:00.000+05:30

Now, exporting teachers

2006-04-29T00:12:00.000+05:30

An article by Prayatna raises some points regarding education exports in form of qualified teachers.

One such advertisement by EDCIL(on march 03,2006) :

Job Function : Teaching/Education
Industry : Educational/Training
Qualification : Postgraduate
Experience : 2 -4
Level : Middle - Manager, Assistant Manager
Location : United States
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION :
Required School Teachers in USA. Require competent, smart and dynamic School Teachers for challenging assignment in District Schools at USA.
Salary: Rs. 12.0 lakh upwards per annum.
Subjects: Mathematics, Science and Special Education.
Eligibility: Post-graduation with B.Ed / M.Ed and minimum of three years post-qualification experience. Apply latest by March 15th, 2006 in the prescribed format downloadable from Ed.CIL website.

US/UK lacks qualified teachers.So they are recruiting Indian teachers and job offers are lucrative too.At the same time,we are talking about trends like E-tutoring where we believe that Indian teachers will help US students through Internet and voice services.Now my point is,if good teachers are helping them, who will help us ?

Kapil

E-learning Redefined

2006-04-20T15:01:00.000+05:30

What is Nuvvo ?

In simple words ,its a CMS .

Then How is it different from others ?

Nuvvo is a free service allowing anyone (“bring out the teacher in all of us”) to build an online course and offer it to “learners.”
The best thing about Nuvvo is that this service is fully hosted and maintained by professional engineers, there is no need for users to know the technical aspects of running CMS.

Skype

Nuvvo is integrated with skype support so that instructor can interact with students through voice also.

Where is the money ?

Instructors can easily set prices for their courses and earn money with each student enrollment.Currently around 50% of the courses offered in Nuvvo are free of cost.

Nuvvo Enterprise is also there for greater configurability.

If you want to share anything from arts to science,you can start a course for your (potential)students without thinking about installing those costly and sphosticated CMSs.

Interested ?

Take a 5 minute tour of Nuvvo

What are you teaching ?

I just love this concept .
Kapil Bhatia

Reservations Again

2006-04-08T16:14:00.000+05:30

Got this in my mail box today

GIVING AWAY WHAT WAS OUR RIGHT…RIGHT OF THE STUDENTS WHO WORKED FOR IT…IT'S NOT A CANDY THAT CAN BE GIVEN TO CRYING CHILDREN TO MAKE THEM HAPPY….

Now what exactly is the government trying to do ???????? Instead of giving a burden on its exchequer its playing with the future of thousands of students belonging to the General Category. Instead of giving them economic support, fee waivers and scholarships it wants to appease them with something that will cost students their future.... Reservation aimed at more than 50%...1330 seats going to be out of question for General Candidates in IITs and 210 in IIMs...half the Passouts from these esteemed institutions will be those who never fought for their careers...they'll be beggars who got it as Alms... Now this is the limit...we can't let anyone go with it...we can't let the ministers do what they feel like doing...if they are so interested let them open new colleges for these so called UNDERPRIVILEGED...give them money if they don't have...but nothing at our cost...Its high time that we bear everything forced upon us...let us show them that we are also a part of the Vote Bank and let us show them what's ahead if they go ahead with any such thing.

News Article regarding this decision in Indiatimes

PLEASE GIVE YOUR VOTES HERE

Click here to sign the petition

I just want all of you to support this cause...for the sake of our brothers who are still to face the world. Let's give them something that they deserve. Just add your name below to the list and forward it to all people you can.(change the subject…at least remove the clip mark so that more and more people give it an eye...

Looking forward for your support to change this system.

English Poems On English

2006-04-06T15:45:00.000+05:30

When the English tongue we speak.
Why is break not rhymed with freak?
Will you tell me why it's true
We say sew but likewise few?
And the maker of the verse,
Cannot rhyme his horse with worse?
Beard is not the same as heard
Cord is different from word.
Cow is cow but low is low
Shoe is never rhymed with foe.
Think of hose, dose,and lose
And think of goose and yet with choose
Think of comb, tomb and bomb,
Doll and roll or home and some.
Since pay is rhymed with say
Why not paid with said I pray?
Think of blood, food and good.
Mould is not pronounced like could.
Wherefore done, but gone and lone -
Is there any reason known?
To sum up all, it seems to me
Sound and letters don't agree.

This was written by Lord Cromer, published in the Spectator of August 9th, 1902
and extracts were quoted in an SSS pamflet in 1930.

US rebounds ....

2006-03-24T10:46:00.000+05:30

International students are showing more interest in coming to the United States for graduate studies after a post-Sept. 11 attacks drop-off, a welcome development for American universities and policy-makers reports AP

"Applications are up from all countries and regions",said CGS President Debra Stewart.

There were significant increases from the two top source countries for foreign graduate students -- India (up 23 percent) and China (up 21 percent).

About 275,000 foreign students are pursuing American graduate degrees, according to the Institute of International Education's latest figures.

Kapil Bhatia

The Ten Million problem

2006-03-21T13:47:00.000+05:30

Rediff has a comprehensive report on Asian corporate summit's session on education.

Session :Education Reform: India's Path Towards World Class Status

Mahipal University Managing Director Gopal Rajagopalan raised what he called 10 million problem :-

Every year, 10 million students passed out of the 10 + 2 system of school education in the country, he said. Traditional brick and mortar systems of higher education could not cope with such a large number of entrants every year. It is in this context that distance learning and Internet institutions could have a crucial role to play.

I am also very
excited about prospects of Internet learning in India.

Kapil

Are you listening, Boss ?

2006-03-19T16:04:00.000+05:30

Anne Fisher raises some interesting points :-

1. Its very difficult for the human brain to come up with fresh new ideas when its owner is overworked, overtired, and stressed out.

2.Task-oriented thinking is important but bigger thinking is slow.

3.Scientists have only recently begun to realize is that people may do their best thinking when they are not concentrating on work at all.

Then she takes the example of Google's work culture and ends her brilliant article with

"Of course, not every workplace can match Google's. But plenty of companies might do a lot worse than to emulate the thinking behind it."

Are you listening,boss ?

Kapil

CET preparation on Doordarshan

2006-03-18T17:02:00.000+05:30

CET is Common Entrance test.

There is a news article in Hindu

The Karnataka Government has decided to telecast programmes on the subjects of study
on "Chandana" channel of Doordarshan.

The channel will telecast 60 lessons at the rate of 15 lessons for each subject. The duration of each programme will be 30 minutes.

Target Audience
Students in urban centres attend coaching classes and are better placed to write the CET. But rural students need special coaching.

I think this is a great step and private test-prep companies can use this opportunity to spread their brand by contributing free lectures to this project.It would be a win-win situation for both students and teachers.

Kapil Bhatia

Cybercafes to replace Tuition Centers ?

2006-03-15T15:52:00.000+05:30

Due to some personal problems,I could not write on Pankap lately.
Yesterday,I looked at this news article in business standard which writes about XLRI HR course through Reliance web world.

Course
The 14-month PGCHRM programme would target high-potential mid-career HR managers looking to move up the career ladder and would be available in Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Jamshedpur, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune at Reliance WebWorld outlets.

This is the second programme from XLRI-Reliance e-learning platform.

Methodology
Reliance's virtual classrooms used the WebWorld's video conferencing facility to connect to students who can see and hear the professor live and interact with him and fellow students at other locations.

I talked to VC's and they are more interested in funding education companies with e-learning as their delivery model as it is less capital intensive and scalable.
But I think there is still some time left before cyber cafes will replace local tuition centers in India.Creating an elearning framework and collaborating with education institutes and companies would be the most common thing in education India tommorow.

Kapil Bhatia